B' Rabby As a "True-True Bahamian": Rabbyism As Bahamian Ethos and World View in the Bahamas' Folk Tradition and the Works of Strachan and Glinton-Meicholas (Ian Strachan and Patricia Glinton-Meicholas) (Critical Essay‪)‬

Introduction Almost everyone who has visited the Bahamas will tell you the same thing about my people; Bahamians are very friendly, open and honest, always smiling and eager to please. Indeed, all of the travel guides depict Bahamians, to one degree or another, as being amongst the most beautiful people of earth. In the Pelican Guide to the Bahamas, for instance, we are described as a "generally gregarious, inquisitive and delightfully friendly people" (Moore 42). Similarly, Bahamas for Dummies calls Bahamians "some of the most personable people around," adding the caveat, "as long as visitors treat them with respect" (Derrick 337). Even the Lonely Planet whose accounts and advice are typically the most nuanced of the popular guides suggests that in the urban centers "you'll meet dozens of genuinely charming people with a friendliness that never pales" for every "wisecracking tough [that you meet] wanting to separate you from your money" (Baker 57-8). It also describes Bahamians who live on the family islands as "unspoiled by city life" and "friendliness personified, displaying a gentle wisdom and ever-present caring for other people" (58). From the guides you get a clear sense that if the Bahamas is paradise--and each guide offers reason after reason why the typical visitor might honestly believe that this nation of islands is at least a close approximation of Eden--then Bahamians, it seems, are precisely the sort of people that you'd expect to find there: gregarious, personable, genuinely charming, friendliness personified. (2)